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My blog post yesterday about the difficulties of finding a technical co-founder generated a lot of good discussion over at Hacker News.

Something that was frequently mentioned was an issue that I have also been wrestling with: whether or not to stick with the original language that Satago was built with.

Satago was built with Java, using the Tapestry framework. I knew that if/when it came to looking for a tech co-founder, and potential employees, it would be more difficult to find Java developers than, say, PhP or Ruby developers. Many Java developers are currently working in banking or big enterprise platforms, which pays very well, whereas PhP developers are much more common in web startups, and Ruby-on-Rails is currently much more trendy (as is Nodejs).

By only looking for Java guys as potential co-founders I am restricting my pool of potential founders. I’ve always said that for the right co-founder I would not mind to switch language, but at the same time if the site is already in Java, it would be a shame to start from scratch in other language.

This subject does seem to neatly polarise opinion amongst my developer friends, and the people that commented on the Hacker News thread:

The two camps are:

(Paraphrasing collective opinions) “You’d be mad to change programming language now. The site is well built, the code is good, and Java is a great language for you to scale with the sort of application you’re going to build. Wait for the right guy, they will come along. “

and

“Honestly, I think your biggest problem is Java, it’s just not going to hit a large enough cross section of 20/30 year olds, that want to take a risk, that are into tech.”

“That should be the least of your concerns. Finding a co-founder is hard enough without expecting him to know Java. Pick based on other criteria, then let him rebuild it as he sees fit. There’s a good chance that even a Java guy would end up refactoring it beyond recognition. It’s exactly what I would do.”

As a non-technical guy, I’m not really in a good position to judge the technical merits of Java vs. not Java.

Being the “business guy” trying to find a tech co-founder is tough, that’s well known. However, I think I underestimated just how tough it really is in practice until I began to try and find someone myself.

Ever since I was a Seedcamp finalist, the main feedback I’ve had for my startup, Satago, when I’ve been talking to investors, has been “it looks very interesting, but we wouldn’t invest unless you have a technical co-founder”.

I don’t blame them. The argument of course is that you would be wary to invest in a technology-based company where nobody in the company knows the code. You need to have someone in the team that can fix a crashed server at 3am, or burn the midnight oil to hit a new feature deadline.

To date I have been using a contractor to build Satago, and whilst he is very good (one of the best developers I’ve worked with to be honest, but sadly based very far away from me in Russia) the fear is that without the large chunk of equity that a co-founder would be working towards, he could just down tools, and then Satago would grind to a halt.

To everyone that asks me how the cofounder search is going, I tell them it is like deciding you need to get married in the next few months, but you’re still single. One probably could find a mail-order bride quite quickly, but it would most likely be an unhappy marriage and end badly. Instead I need to try and do some high-throughput dating (slutty much?), and find someone that I can have a lasting relationship with (well, at least for the next 3-5 years).

So far I have been jilted at the altar a few times. I have very high standards, and so the potential co-founders that I am attracted to, and want to get on-board, are of course very high-calibre. When you’re a talented tech guy, you’re never short on offers and so far my almost-co-founders have decided each time the other iron in their fire is hotter for them. It’s starting to hurt my feelings.

I’m a guy, but you get my point…

Asides from reaching out to my own network, which includes some very talented technical guys, and networking my ass off, I have also listed my “co-founder wanted” plea on a couple of UK/European websites, including WorkinStartups. What’s been encouraging, is that the people that have got back to me have have usually said that I am about the most credible startup that they have seen on there.

Me at Downing Street to discuss Satago and late-payment to small businesses.

I just got very close to a term-sheet from a Tier 1 VC fund for a seed-investment, but after many meetings with them they decided I was too high-risk as a solo non-tech guy. That I got so far with these guys was great validation in my mind.

Lastly, some really cool top-secret things coming next month!

I worked for Rocket Internet for 2 years (that’s either, “nice, he’ll be good at business execution” or “herp, derp, evil German cloners! Fetch the pitchforks!”) and an MBA from Oxford University (that’s either “cool, useful degree from a good university”, or “begone foul-MBA, for ye are pure evil and do not know what a startup is”). I also have a PhD in Genetics, and while not especially useful for a internet startup, it does mean I too can hack code, just not computer code (ok, really I’m hoping it appeals at an intellectual nerd-to-nerd level). Also, I’m fairly certain I’m not an obnoxious guy, so hopefully it’s not my personality putting people off!

I’ve looked at a couple of these founder-matching websites, but they seem to be a bit US-focussed, and of course I seem not to have made the grade for the..uhhh…. “illustrious” FounderDating.com.

I do have a few good networking opportunities in the next couple of months so maybe something will come from that. I’m also thinking about organising a couple of founder speed-dating events in London and Berlin next month. I’d select 10 high-quality, credible “non-tech founders” with more than just an idea in their head and invite any tech guys that are looking for interesting co-founder opportunities.

In the meantime, if you’re reading this and you’re interested in helping me tackle the problem of late-payment to freelancers and small businesses, please get in touch (Berlin, London, Oxford or Scotland – all good to me). Satago is built with Java, with Tapestry framework and PostgreSQL database. Of course one thing I have found (and I expected anyway) is that most of the young, entrepreneurial developers are PhP or Ruby guys. Most Java experts (at least the ones I’ve spoken to) are from banking and already very well paid, so it’s quite a leap for them to consider a startup. I’m not committed to staying with Java – I’d prefer to stick with it since it’s already working well, but for the right co-founder of course we could move to any language.